APM Project Fundamentals Qualification (PFQ) Podcast Series

1. Principles of Project Management

In this podcast the Parallel team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. Define the term ‘project’.
2. State the differences between a project and business as usual.
3. Define the term ‘project management’
4. State the key purpose of project management.
5. Define the terms ‘programme management’ and ‘portfolio management’ and their relationship with project management

 

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2. The Project Environment

In this podcast the Parallel team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. Describe why PESTLE analysis might be used by a project manager

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3. Project Lifecycles

In this podcast the Parallel team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. State the phases of a typical linear project life cycle.
2. State the phases of a typical iterative project life cycle.
3. Define the term ‘hybrid life cycle’.
4. Define the term ‘extended project life cycle’.

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4. Project Roles

In this APM Project Fundamentals Qualification (BoK7) podcast, the Parallel team discuss project roles. This podcasts aims to address the following APM PFQ assessment criteria;

1. Outline project management roles and responsibilities (including the project sponsor, project manager, project governance, project team members, end users, product owner and the project management office)

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5. Business Case

In this podcast, the Parallel team discuss the following assessment criteria;

1. Outline the purpose and typical content of a business case
2. Explain the role of a project sponsor and project manager in relation to developing a business case

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6. Project management plan and deployment baselineFile

In this podcast the Parallel team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. Define the term ‘deployment baseline’
2. State how deployment baselines differ between linear and iterative life cycles

Read this blog post Deployment baselines for linear and agile projects for what is a deployment baseline and how to use it in linear and agile projects.

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7. Stakeholder Management

In this podcast the Parallel team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. Outline the stakeholders of a project management plan

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8. Success and Benefits Management

In this podcast the Parallel Team discuss the following assessment criteria for the APM Project Fundamental Qualification:

1. Explain why establishing success criteria is important at the start, during, and at the handover of a project

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9. Estimating

In this podcast the Parallel Team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. State typical estimating methods (including analytical, analogous, parametric)
2. Outline the purpose of the estimating funnel

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10. Project Reporting

In this podcast the Parallel team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. Outline the purpose and benefits of project progress reporting.

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11. Scope and Scope Management

In this podcast the Parallel team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. Define the term ‘scope management’.
2. Differentiate between scope management within linear projects and scope management within iterative projects.
3. Describe how product breakdown structures (PBS) and work breakdown structures (WBS) are used to illustrate the required scope of work.
4. Outline how a project manager would use cost breakdown structures (CBS), organisational breakdown structures (OBS) and the responsibility assignment matrix (RAM).
5. Define the terms ‘configuration management’ and ‘change control’ in the context of scope management.
6. Explain the relationship between change control and configuration management
7. Outline the stages in a typical change control process
8. Outline the activities in a typical configuration management process (including planning, identification, control, status accounting and verification audit)

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12. Change Control and Configuration Management

In this APM PFQ podcast the Parallel team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. Define the terms ‘configuration management’ and ‘change control’ in the context of scope management
2. Explain the relationship between change control and configuration management
3. Outline the stages in a typical change control process
4. Outline the activities in a typical configuration management process (including planning, identification, control, status accounting and verification audit)

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13. Project Scheduling

In this podcast the Parallel team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. State the purpose of scheduling
2. State the purpose of critical path analysis
3. State the purpose of milestones
4. Define the term ‘time boxing’
5. Outline options for resource optimisation (including resource levelling and resource smoothing)
6. Define the term ‘procurement strategy’

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14. Project Resource Management and Procurement

In this podcast the Parallel Team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. Outline options for resource optimisation (including resource levelling and resource smoothing)

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15. Risk Management

In this podcast the Parallel team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. Define the term ‘risk’
2. Explain the purpose of risk management
3. Outline the stages of a typical risk management process (including identification, analysis, response and closure)
4. Describe the use of risk registers

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16. Issue Management

In this APM PFQ podcast, the Parallel Project Training team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. Define the term ‘issue’
2. Outline the purpose of ‘issue management’
3. Differentiate between an issue and a risk
4. State the stages of an issue resolution process

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17. Quality Management

In this podcast the Parallel team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. Define the term ‘quality’
2. Outline the purpose of ‘quality management’
3. Define the term ‘quality planning’
4. Define the term ‘quality control’
5. Outline the purpose of ‘quality assurance’
6. State the purpose of: decision gates, post project reviews, benefit reviews and project audits

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18. Project Reviews

In this podcast the Parallel Team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. State the purpose of: decision gates, post project reviews, benefit reviews and project audits

 

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19. Communications

In this podcast the Parallel team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. Define the term ‘communication’
2. Outline the advantages of different communication methods (including face to face, physical and virtual).
3. Outline the disadvantages of different communication methods (including face to face, physical and virtual).
4. Outline the contents of a communication plan.
5. Explain the benefits, to a project manager, of a communication plan.

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20. Leadership and Teams

In this APM PFQ podcast the Parallel team discuss the following assessment criteria:

1. Define the term ‘leadership’
2. Explain how a project team leader can influence team performance
3. Outline the challenges to a project manager when developing and leading a project team
4. Outline how a project manager can use models to assist team development (including Belbin and Tuckman)

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